DOD considers using new technologies in Iraq

By Dawn S. Onley

Sep 04, 2003

Two of 13 initiatives the Defense Department tested last week under its Quantum Leap demonstration are being considered for fielding in Iraq to help postwar efforts, according to top Defense officials.

John Osterholz, the DOD's director for architecture and interoperability, said soldiers will see an immediate benefit from the initiatives.

The application would be used as a 'local capability with networking into the collateral space,' he said. 'We now have for the first time the capability to search the data holdings we have on our SIPRnet.'

The 13 initiatives were tested as part of the department's first Quantum Leap exercise on Aug. 27. The demonstrations took place at several military facilities, including the Defense Information Systems Agency in Falls Church, Va.; the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston, S.C.; and McKenna Military Operations Urban Terrain Site at Fort Benning, Ga.

DOD manages the 13 programs as a portfolio, providing joint research, test, development and evaluation money to accelerate the Web-enabling of the applications, said Marian Cherry, DOD's horizontal fusion portfolio manager.

'These are programs of record that we modify, accelerate their capability, and once it works, we leave it there,' Cherry said. 'The real focus is to implement the Global Information Grid architecture.'